Memphis Public Tennis Centers

News & Events

First Serve Memphis has 2 Arthur Ashe Essay winners!
(posted August 31, 2009)

Shaundrica Carter

Sherita Bell

If you are watching the U.S. Open coverage, keep an eye out for these two young women in the stands. Shaundrica Carter and Sherita Bell from our First Serve Memphis program were both winners of the national Arthur Ashe Essay Contest. They each received an all expenses paid trip to New York City to participate in Arthur Ashe Kids Day and attend matches at the U.S. Open.

Shaundrica was a contest winner from the USTA Southern Section with the best essay from Tennessee. She is an honor student in her senior year at Ridgeway High School. She spent the summer as a tutor in the First Serve Memphis program. She wasn't interested in tennis when she started the job, but after learning about the game and about Arthur Ashe, she has since changed her mind. After high school, Shaundrica hopes to attend Vanderbilt and become an OB/GYN.

Sherita's essay was a winner in the Girls 12 & under category. Her mother, Minda Bell, told us that Sherita loves to write, and she used to question how much time she spent on it at home, but she doesn't anymore! Sherita, a student at Jeeter Middle School, participated in our Summer Tennis Camp and plans to join the First Serve program after school this Fall.

We are so proud of Shaundrica and Sherita and excited that they were both able to make the trip to New York. We can't wait to see the pictures and hear all about it!

Photos from the Tennis Memphis Junior Open
(held at Leftwich August 7-9, 2009)

Results are posted on our Tournaments page. Congratulations to all!

Image:

Nice job, kids!
(Posted June 4, 2009)

On Saturday, May 16th, the First Serve Memphis program graduated 8 students: Ladarious Joyner, Christopher Laury, Jaila Laury, Dekyla Little, Teweva Nelson, Alexis Nesbitt, Tyvarian Rogers and Francesca Warren from the Game Level of the First Serve Life Skills Curriculum at both the Frayser and Whitehaven Learning Centers. After the ceremony, students, coaches and families had a tennis jamboree at the Eldon Roark Tennis Center in Whitehaven, where the kids tried to score points off Coaches Stephen and William Lang (and a few of them did!).

First Serve Memphis graduates with their families

Thank you for playing
(Posted May 29, 2009)

A special thank you to the 30 or more teams that played their home matches at the Memphis Public Tennis Centers:

Division Captain Center

Women 3.5 Carrie Moring Leftwich

Women 3.0 Patricia Puckett Wolbrecht

Women 3.0 Debbie Yen Wolbrecht

Women 3.0 Maria Takkas Eldon Roark

Women 3.0 Suzanne Wanish Leftwich

Women Sr. 4.0 Bev Miller Leftwich

Women Sr. 4.5 Phyllis Taylor Wolbrecht

Women Sr. 3.0 Cynthia Spangler Leftwich

Women Sr. 3.5 Rita Fernandez Leftwich

Women Sr. 3.5 Grace Montgomery Leftwich

Women Sr. 3.5 Elizabeth Ziarko Leftwich

Women 3.5 Linda Niell Leftwich

Women 2.5 Kathleen Chandler Wolbrecht

Women 4.0 Regina Cross Wolbrecht

Women 4.0 Barbara Woods Wolbrecht

Women 4.0 Bev Miller Leftwich

Women 4.0 Chrissie Allen Leftwich

Women 4.5 Lisa Grayson Leftwich

Women 4.5 Carolyn Albritton Wolbrecht

Women 3.5 Gloria Thomas Leftwich

Women 3.5 Ashli Jones Eldon Roark

Women 3.5 Alex Bates Leftwich

Women 3.5 Pat Horsby Leftwich

Women 3.5 Lisa Sodini Leftwich

Women 2.5 Pam Marshall Wolbrecht

Men 4.0 Eric Tabor Leftwich

Men 4.0 Mike Beavers Leftwich

Men 3.5 Doug Johnson Wolbrecht

Men 4.0 Bryan Barringer Leftwich

Men 4.0 Jerry Goral Leftwich

Men 3.0 Tom Hayes Leftwich

Men Sr. 3.5 Sam Jones Wolbrecht

Men Sr. 3.5 Jerry Goral Leftwich

Men Sr. 4.0 Sid Gover Wolbrecht

Men Sr. 4.0 Jim Kugler Leftwich

Inside the Service Box-- from the Executive Director
(Posted May 20, 2009)

The Spring of 2009 has seen the tennis courts at the Memphis Public Tennis Centers (MPTC) alive and bustling with activity. After-school programs, tournaments, USTA Spring Team Tennis matches and practices, high school and middle school tennis, clinics and lessons. You name it�it�s been happening!

I thought I would share a few highlights from the Spring season:

In March�

� USTA Spring Adult/Senior Team Tennis kicked off with more than 30 teams playing their matches at MPTC facilities.

� 75 players participated in the �Good Samaritan� fundraiser at the Eldon Roark Tennis Center

� The first MIAA Junior Tournament (75 players) was held at the Leftwich and Raleigh Tennis Centers

� The Memphis Cup tournament series was played at Leftwich and Eldon Roark to the tune of almost 300 players

In April�

� The Bullfrog USTA Southern Designated Junior Tournament was played, attracting 250 players from nine southern states

� The MIAA high school city and district tennis tournaments were played at several public tennis centers

� The Whitehaven Community Center and Eldon Roark Tennis Center, home of First Serve Memphis-Whitehaven, was the site of a 3-day meeting of USTA National staff and representatives from 4 pilot project cities for the USTA/NJTL �Community Building Grant Initiative�

In May�

� The MIAA high school regional tournaments were played

� The Leftwich Junior Championships was played

� First Serve Memphis held its first graduation ceremony for Frayser and Whitehaven students who completed the Game Level of the First Serve Life Skills curriculum

� USTA Spring Adult/Senior Team Tennis playoffs are scheduled for May 28-31 at Leftwich

The Summer will be no less busy, with summer youth tennis clinics & camps, USTA leagues, tournaments, outdoor play, summer indoor Permanent Court Time and other events on the schedule. The staff at the Memphis Public Tennis Centers want to know what you think of the job we are doing, so please email us your comments, concerns or questions to slang@tennismemphis.org or call 901-374-0603. We look forward to hearing from you. Til next week, I wish you good hitting!

Best,

Stephen Lang

Memphis Public Tennis Centers

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